Once the money for this project was set aside, John approached the board about buying a large ship. The timing proved right. By now the board members of the LMS had seen the remarkable effect John had on his audiences and the way he threw himself wholeheartedly into every event. Even those members who had been staunchly against the LMS owning its own ship had to admit that under John’s direction a ship would be a powerful tool. Indeed, through his exploits with the Messenger of Peace, John had already demonstrated what an indispensable part a ship played in spreading the gospel across the Pacific.
John was elated when in early 1838 he learned that the London Missionary Society had approved his proposal to raise money for a ship. He went right to work using every approach he could think of to raise money. On March 15, 1838, John even appeared before the London city council to ask for a grant. Many of the councilmen had read his book, and they voted to donate five hundred pounds to him. More money flowed in, and soon John had collected thirty-five hundred pounds—more than enough to buy a ship. John knew just the vessel he wanted. Called the Camden, it was a large, two-masted ship. John knew it would be just right for his needs, and he knew the man he wanted at the helm of the new ship—Captain Morgan.
John had encountered Captain Morgan many times as he crisscrossed the Pacific Ocean in the command of various ships. He was impressed with both the captain’s ability to pilot his ship through dangerous waters and his Christian character. However, when John contacted Captain Morgan, the captain had just signed a contract to command another ship and was on his way to India.
This outcome disappointed John greatly, but other things encouraged him. The purchase of the Camden went smoothly, and the vessel was refitted. The shipbuilder did the refitting for free as his contribution to the mission. The freshwater supplier was also generous. He put twenty tons of filtered water on board the ship and refused to take money for it.
While all of this was going on, Mary was quietly preparing to leave England once again. She and John had decided to leave Samuel in London with friends. Samuel was now enrolled in school and loved learning from the classics. John was eager for him to get as much education as he could. In the meantime John Jr. had married Caroline Nichols, a girl from Linton, and the couple had committed themselves to sailing back to Rarotonga with the rest of the family.
Others planned to sail on the Camden when it left for the Pacific as well. John’s preaching had stirred up many volunteers for the mission, and eighteen new missionaries for the South Seas were trained and ready for service.
In late March John received a letter marked “urgent” from Captain Morgan. The ship he had been aboard had been wrecked in a violent storm, and he was now able to take up the position on the Camden if it was still available. John was delighted. He’d had a lot of difficulty finding just the right captain for the ship and had not yet signed up anyone for the position. He immediately wrote back to Captain Morgan, asking him to report for duty.
On Wednesday, April 4, 1838, the Williams family were invited to Whitefield Tabernacle, near City Road in London, for a farewell service. When they arrived they could barely push their way through the crowd to get in the door of the church. There was not enough room inside for the hundreds of well-wishers who had shown up for the service. The crowd spilled into the street outside, where people stood quietly, joining in with the hymns and prayers.
During the service John was presented with a twenty-volume encyclopedia to take back to the islands, and then he was invited to speak. He thanked everyone for their generous support for the Camden and then said, “I feel, still, that the work of Christian missions is the greatest, noblest, and sublimest to which the energies of the human mind can be devoted. I think, Christian friends, that no labor we can bestow, no sacrifice that we can make, no journeys that we can undertake, are too great to be undertaken for the glorious purpose of illuminating the dark world with the light of the glorious gospel.”
John spoke for twenty minutes before he concluded by saying, “Great, of course, are the perils that await me. I may not again come back to glimpse a first sight of the lofty cliffs and lovely plains of Old England; well, the will of the Lord be done! Shall I be entombed in the ocean, or sleep in a foreign land, in the Isles of the South, in the field of my labors, and among the graves of my children, time alone can reveal the will of Heaven. I will wait for that revelation in the spirit of holy submission, love, and obedience.”
By now the Camden had been tied up at the West India dock in London, and for a week the vessel was open for people to tour. Thousands poured through the ship in that time, and then on April 9 it was moved downriver to Gravesend, where livestock and other gifts were loaded aboard for the voyage.
April 11, 1838, the day of departure, finally arrived. The LMS had chartered a steamer named the City of Canterbury to transport the departing missionaries and about two hundred well-wishers from London Bridge down the Thames to Gravesend.
On the trip downriver, John and the other departing missionaries said their personal good-byes to family and friends, and a brief church service was held. At Gravesend the steamer pulled alongside the Camden, and the missionaries transferred on board. John helped Mary and Billy onto the ship and walked to the railing. When he looked over at the steamer, he could not see his son Samuel. “Where is Sam?” he yelled. A friend lifted the boy high in the air, and Samuel waved to his parents.
The sails of the Camden were unfurled, and the vessel moved off down the Thames toward the sea. Tears welled up in John’s eyes as he took a last look at his son on the steamer. He was proud of Samuel, and although he knew it was the right thing to leave him behind in England, it was still very painful to do so.
John slipped his arm around his wife’s waist. “Mary,” he said, “Jesus says that he that loveth father or mother, sister or brother, wife or children or lands more than Him is not worthy of Him. I pray we are found worthy of Jesus and that our dear, precious boy will take hold of the grace of God so that when we return to England, we shall find our beloved boy not only intelligent and amiable but also pious and devoted, enjoying the good opinion and affection of all who know him and living in the fear of God.”
“Yes, indeed,” Mary said, burying her head in John’s shoulder.
The City of Canterbury accompanied the Camden about ten miles before turning back for London. John stood watching it fade into the distance and reminding himself how good it felt to be back on a ship, with the smell of salt in his nostrils and the sound of breakers in his ears.
Chapter 16
They Have Killed Our Father!
Land ahoy!” yelled the lookout.
John and nine of the new missionary recruits who happened to be on deck at that moment rushed to the railing and peered across the deep blue ocean.
“Home at last!” John exclaimed as he spotted the mountainous peaks of Upolu rising out of the sea. He took a deep breath. How wonderful it was to be back in the South Pacific. Four years was too long to be away.
The Camden sailed to Fasetootai, on Upolu, which John soon decided to make his next mission base. He had originally intended to return to Rarotonga, but on the journey from England he decided to establish a new base of operations farther west. From there it would be easier to sail the Camden on to the unreached islands of the New Hebrides, the Solomons, and New Guinea.
The local population was glad to hear that the Williams family was about to set up home among them and immediately built them a large temporary hut. Everyone on board the Camden helped unload the Williamses’ belongings and settle the family into their new house. When this was done, John left Mary, Billy, and John Jr. and his wife, Caroline, behind in Samoa and set out to escort the other missionaries to their new posts.
The first port of call was Rarotonga, where John was delighted to be reunited with so many old friends. Aaron and Sarah Buzacott were thrilled to receive the five thousand New Testaments in Rarotongan. One of the first jobs for the new missionaries arriving in Rarotonga would be to help distribute the New Testaments.
John had a special embrace for Chief Makea. “Oh, Makea,” he said to the chief, “how kind are God’s dealings with us in sparing us thus far and permitting us to meet again.”
That night a meeting was called. John closed his eyes during the singing of the first hymn. How long he had waited to hear the Rarotongan Christians singing in their strong, four-part harmony. This is how the angels must sound, he told himself.
Over the next week, John and Aaron worked out the plans for the new missionary training college. Aaron was eager to begin work on the structure and readily agreed to be the new school’s first principal.
With these details taken care of, John was ready to reboard the Camden. He and the other missionaries who were sailing on to the Society Islands sent all their baggage back to the ship on the afternoon of February 11, 1839. They planned to spend one last night on Rarotonga and board the ship first thing in the morning.
Things did not go as planned, however. John awoke to the sound of a howling wind. He quickly dressed and ran down to the water’s edge. The horizon was unbroken—the Camden was gone. John hoped that this was because Captain Morgan had put out to sea to keep the ship from being driven onto the reef by the high winds. John and the other missionaries had to wait three long weeks to find out that this was indeed the case. It was not until March 5 that Captain Morgan was able to get back to Rarotonga.
Finally the Camden left Rarotonga, this time with everyone on board who was supposed to be on board, and sailed on to Tahiti, Raiatea, Atiu, and Aitutaki before heading back to Upolu on May 2. Everywhere John stopped he saw signs of progress in the church—and the occasional setback as well. In Samoa a Wesleyan missionary named Peter Turner had arrived and was busy setting up a Methodist church, despite the fact that the Wesleyans and the LMS had agreed that the London Missionary Society would take responsibility for Samoa. When challenged on this fact, Peter refused to move. He even spread a rumor that John Williams had died and would not be returning, which greatly upset many of the Samoans.
Nearly four months had passed by the time John got back to Upolu. He was proud to inspect the house that John Jr. and the islanders had built for the family to live in. The place was sixty feet long and thirty feet wide and had nine rooms.
“It seems there is something of great interest to our island friends in every one of these rooms!” Mary said with a twinkle in her eye.
John laughed. “They are as curious about the things we brought back from England as the English were about the artifacts we brought from Polynesia. What is it that particularly intrigues them?”
“Well, they all bounce up and down on our four-poster bed!” she exclaimed. “And they love the patchwork quilt on the bed. Last week a group of women chided me for not wearing it to church, they thought it was so pretty. Many islanders have also walked miles to see the ‘amazing likenesses.’” She pointed to the portraits of Samuel and other members of the family that hung in ornate frames on the wall. “They ask if it is possible for me to make the portraits speak to them! Oh, and you must see them looking in the mirror. It is large enough for twenty or more of them to see themselves at once, and they come in and get up to the funniest antics in front of it. They grin and stare, then dance and jump. Poor Caroline has a never-ending job trying to keep the sand and dirt out of the house, but having an open house is so worth it. Every week we make new friends and invite them to chapel.”
“How wonderful,” John said as Billy raced into the house.
